Advice

February 4 to 11, 2010

Visible Planets: Morning: Mercury and Saturn  Evening: Mars and Jupiter

CasaSalado Well, it’s Super Bowl weekend and it’s the last weekend we’ll be staying at Cerro Salado, the magnificent casa we’ve had the pleasure of occupying for the last two months. The Moon is waning, rising later each night above the ocean horizon, shimmering it’s magic upon the Sea of Cortez. I’m feeling a bit nostalgic as the Jan. 15th solar eclipse lunar cycle draws to a close. A few weeks ago, I wrote about the memories and reiterated themes of the Capricorn eclipse in January of 1990, when we were here in Baja at Cabo Pulmo, building a little hacienda of our own. Bush Sr. was bombing Baghdad and I was doing laundry by hand. I had been poignantly aware of being an American gringa in a third world country, concerned about political corruption and the seemingly impossible dream of world peace. 

Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel tells a good story. Usually there is a training tip in there. His story about his son's remote controlled boat and a pair of English setters is no exception. In this case the main lesson is...

January 28 to February 4, 2010

Visible Planets: Morning: Mercury and Saturn  Evening: Mars and Jupiter

Unity in Diversity and Love with a Generous Heart

“We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one affects all…”
                                Martin Luther King, Jr.

PurpleMoon The Jan. 29th Leo/Aquarius full Moon takes place at 11:18 p.m. MST @ 10º14’ and brings to fruition the late degree Capricorn new Moon solar eclipse cycle of Jan. 15th. This promises us a powerful lunation filled with plenty of social interaction and charismatic attraction. Leo/Aquarius full Moons – one in summer and one in winter – are the year’s two most flamboyant “party” moons as the romantic, courageous heart of the Lion pairs up with the wild and crazy, inventive spirit of the revolutionary rebel, Aquarius.

FireMoonThis year, however, we are under the spell of a seductive Pluto/Saturn square that is forcing a shift in perspective via uncontrollable, inevitable natural forces. Governments, politics, economies - the powers that be - including the weather, i.e. global warming and climate change, are all raining and reigning down upon humanity as a whole. We are no longer alone in this, not as a country, class or individual. Therefore, expect this week’s parties to carry a more serious tone, a collective spirit that somehow winds us all together as “one world” and “one heart”.

 

Our friend, Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel, has sent another video of his Labrador puppy Drake. Drake is learning about his world around Cottonwood, including a surprise meeting with a pheasant rooster, and another with the retrieving Kitty.It's no wonder our...

January 21 to 28, 2010

Visible Planets:
Morning: Mercury, Mars and Saturn    Evening: Jupiter

Aquarius, Uranus, Creative Crisis and Catharsis

Aquarisu The Sun entered Aquarius this year on January 19th at 9:28 p.m. MST, shortly before the Moon came into a conjunction aspect @ 23º Pisces with Uranus, the Aquarian planetary ruler, paving the way for a highly charged zodiac month of sudden change and rapid developments, when we’ll be feeling awakened, excited and pretty much in on-and-off creative crisis or catharsis the entire time. And, believe it or not, this is good!

Surprised? Well, that’s both Uranus and Aquarius. Expect the unexpected, think outside the box, try something new, change your patterns, do it different. Aquarius is the traditional revolutionary influence, the part of us that wants freedom, liberation and the right to pursue our heart’s desires. It’s where we are truly individual and where we seek out other individuals with whom to share our wildest dreams, highest hopes and most idealist visions.

Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel shows us a training session with his one year old Labrador retriever, Mae. TIO has watched Mae's progress from an eight week old puppy. She continues to impress.A well-mannered dog, attentive and anxious to please, is...

January 14 to 21, 2010

Visible Planets: Morning: Mercury and Saturn
Evening: Mars and Jupiter
A New Moon Solar Eclipse and Doing Laundry by Hand

Dawn On Jan. 15th at 12:11 am MST the Sun and Moon come together at 25º01’ Capricorn in the exact conjunction aspect of a New Moon solar eclipse. This is the first eclipse of 2010 and one that reiterates energies from January 1991, when that year’s first solar eclipse was very close in zodiac degree to this one. Eclipses take place four or five times each year, but each and every eclipse repeats the theme and near exact degree of an eclipse occurring almost exactly 19 years prior to it.

This year, my husband, our three dogs and I are in Baja California, Mexico, staying at a friend’s house on the East Cape of the Sea of Cortez, about 30 miles north of Cabo San Lucas. In 1991, my husband, our two dogs – both now deceased – and I were building a house in Cabo Pulmo, just 10 miles north of where I am today.

Watch Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel work with Drake, his eleven week old Labrador puppy. This early training is a lot about having fun and bonding, but the long-term lessons are beginning as well. Cottonwood is a one-stop shop for dogs...

January 7 to 14, 2010

Visible Planets:
Morning: Venus, Mars, Mercury and Saturn
Evening: Jupiter

Magnificent Sunsets and the Quest for Capricorn Control

BajaSunset* Last night I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets of my entire life, and - I have to admit - I’ve seen countless sunsets of magnificent beauty and awesome color. From those early years of childhood in Denver, when the Front Range framed shimmering Venus kissing a delicate crescent Moon, to the picturesque western horizon of the La Sal Mountains in Utah to the rugged terrain of the Baja desert, I have been a huge fan of the setting sun and its magical hour of twilight.

2010 has begun and the eclipse window has opened. The New Year’s Eve lunar eclipse showered the world with Capricorn – realistic, practical, rules and regulations. Governments, goals and gifts, social structures, the economy, jobs and unemployment. We are thrust into the actual, physical realm of money and material, products and production, success and failure.

Ted Hoff of Cottonwood Ranch and Kennel had a birthday party a few weeks ago. While Ted's birthday was the reason for the get-together, Drake, the Hoffs' new yellow Labrador puppy, was the star of the evening. All the women there couldn't keep...